The Feiring Line: An ode to the sweet scent of violets — in Barolos, in bloom — but never in perfume. — Melissa Clark

Modern Farmer: How vegetable literacy can help cooks to “read” their vegetables. Look, there are 12 botanical families of vegetables, and they all need specialized growing and preparation, from onions to rau ram and scorzonera. – Glenn Collins

OC Weekly: Perhaps it’s time for Starbucks to start investing in spelling lessons for its baristas? — Jeff Gordinier

Bloomberg Businessweek: How the quest for capital involving a pizza-parlor entrepreneur and solar-panel maker illustrates the government’s quandary in supporting innovative new small businesses. – Glenn Collins

Cerise Press: From Dilruba Ahmed comes “Limoni,” a poem about a sojourn in the Ligurian sunshine, finding “a scent to make us want to live” and relishing the restorative properties of “sea salt, lemons, anchovies.” — Jeff Gordinier

The New York Times: Chris Buckley writes, “Even for China’s scandal-numbed diners, news that the lamb simmering in the pot may actually be rat took the country’s endless outrages about food hazards into a new realm of disgust.” — Maria Newman